Vet Process After Adopting...

[Stephanie1373]

Hello everyone, we are considering adopting another kitty next week. She's a senior and she will be coming from the humane society. We will be taking her to our regular vet before bringing her home because of past experiences of adoption from the humane society and exposing illness to other fur babies in the house. We have a 17 year old fur baby boy and we want to keep him safe from any unnecessary exposure to anything potentially dangerous that the new kitty caught from being in the pound.

I'm curious to know what the standard vet check up procedure will be like. What to expect? Does anyone have previous experience with adopting from the humane society?

Much love.
Stephanie

 

[mokapi]

Your new lady should come already spayed and vaccinated; I would ask (if they haven't already told you) if she's been FIV/FeLV tested, if she's been treated with any fleas meds, etc. by the humane society before you go to your vet. In my experience, the vet will weigh them, check all the basics (palpate abdomen, listen for any heart/respiratory anomalies, take temperature, check eyes/ears/teeth), and will then likely suggest that you run a complete blood workup to begin establishing a baseline of health, and to check for any lurking issues that the humane society might not have discovered.

They might ask for the vaccination records, just to keep on file, and may or may not ask what you're going to feed her. I think that's pretty much the extent of what my vet did when I took in my new guy!

 

[Stephanie1373]

Thank you! That's very helpful! It's the lurking issues that the humane society missed that I'm concerned about. She'll be on a wet food only diet and I hope that won't be a shock to her system as I know most kitties from the humane society are fed dry kibble only.

 

[mokapi]

Most cats adjust pretty quickly to wet food!

 

[abyeb]

In addition to what mokapi said, they might also want to run a fecal flotation test to check for parasites, so bringing a fresh stool sample could be helpful. I'd love to see of your kitties!

 

[josiegirl]

Have them check her teeth, too. She is a senior kitty and may need a cleaning.

Thank you for bringing home a senior cat!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

No experience (yet) adopting a senior kitty from Humane Society, but thank you so much for adopting an older cat!

If she IS used to eating dry food and has been at the Humane Society for a little while, ask to get several cups of her regular dry food from the staff. You'll need to do a transition phase if you want to feed her wet food at your home... she (and her digestive system!) will be used to dry food and sometimes it can take a little time for older cats to transition to wet if they've eaten dry for many years.